Suspected cartel head Francisco Javier Arellano Felix is still on the run

Mexican officials have said a suspected leader of the Tijuana drugs cartel must be held in prison until his trial.

Attorney General Rafael Macedo said the authorities had found enough evidence to charge Javier Arellano Felix with organised crime and drugs trafficking.

He was arrested, together with another suspected leader of the cartel, Efrain Perez, earlier this month in Tijuana.

The US justice department has offered rewards of $2m for the capture of either man.

Seven other suspected drug traffickers, including a former police officer, were also captured during the operation.

Mr Macedo said they would be tried in Mexico before possible extradition to the US.

Police say the head of the cartel, Francisco Javier Arellano Felix, is still on the run.

At its height in the late 1990s, the Arellano Felix network, based in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, controlled the flow of cocaine and marijuana the US, and its operations extended into southern Mexico and Colombia.

The gang is believed to be behind more than 100 drug-related murders in Mexico and the US.

But it was weakened by the arrest of Benjamin Arellano and the fatal shooting of his brother Ramon in 2002.